Learning From 2012

As the year draws to a close, it really is a wonder when I look back at the past year. Yet another year has gone past and this year was not an uneventful one. Indeed, it was a pretty tough year, but definitely not without any lessons to behold. If we could all just stop and smell the roses and look back on the past year, I’m sure that you will find that somehow or other you have found yourself learning something which took part in building your character. Life is an unending journey of learning. I’d like to share some of the important lessons I’ve picked up along the way this year.

1     Never stray from God

Easier said than done. Seriously. I know how it feels like being away from God. And it sucks. Big time. It has been a pretty busy year for me and I actually allowed other things to take priority in my life. Spiritually, it was the most exhausting year. When you slide down the hill, it is so hard to get back up again to where you were. There were moments when I felt it was so dark and I was just too far away from God. The feeling gave me a realisation that I’ve been taking my relationship with God for granted for too long. A relationship is meant to be a two way thing. Since God keeps His part of the covenant, I should keep mine too.

2       God is forever faithful

Even in my darkest moments, I knew that God will bring me through. Psalms 23 is the best passage to remind us of how God is always there for us even when we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. Another thing is that God has brought me through this tough year. It is truly by His grace that I made it to the end of 2012 alive. No, I’m not talking about the speculated Mayan end of the world. Honestly, if it weren’t for Christ the Saviour in me, I think I would have just called it quits at some point during the year.

3       Godly friends are essential in your life. Hard to find, hard to forget.

I thank God for the friends I have who were there for me through this year. Godly advice is really what we have been giving each other since we knew each other. I really thank God for blessing me with people who really care for you and will set aside time to wait until you chill. Thanks to you guys if you read this! You know who you are! Love you to the max! :DD <3

4       Don’t let negativity influence you.

A lot of negative thoughts are really bad for you and they bring you down. I’ve never had so much negative comments before, so it kind of had a part to play in my bringing down of myself this year. But like I said, God was faithful to bring me through. It’s always better to stay away from the people who keep feeding negative thoughts to you before you become depressed and go crazy.

5     Sometimes the things that irritate you the most are the things that will protect you in life.

Like mum’s nagging. Or a safety harness. I recently went to a theme park where you have to wear safety harnesses as you overcome obstacles which are hanging a few feet, at the minimum, above the ground. The safety harness was really getting in the way at times. But, I knew that without the safety harness, I would be in big danger of losing my life.

6       No fear is too big for God.

I really thank God that I am slowly overcoming my fear of height and water! I managed to overcome the obstacles in the theme park I mentioned. At first, I was really terrified when I first saw how high we were. But after a while, I was dying to do more! I also am learning how to swim again. Although not the proper way, but at least I’m in the water again.

7      Focus on your goal

When you focus on your goal, working towards it seems easier. Just like when I was hanging about 20 feet up in the air, tackling the obstacle, I kept looking at the next platform. It made the experience more fun and exciting, instead of tiring.

           Keep calm and wait upon the Lord

Really. Just be still and let the Lord do His will. In all my tests and exams, I did just that and rested in Him. I got results better than I ever expected.

9       Be thankful for everything

The point speaks for itself. The more thankful you are, for good and bad times, the happier you are.

I’m sure there’s a whole new exciting year ahead. 2013, here I come :D

Blessed new year to all :D

God bless :DD

Reconstuction in Progress

Three months since the last post is a waaayyy loonnggg time. At least that's what I think. Well, inspirations haven't been coming lately. Mainly due to the fact that I lost control. Of my life. And yet, there are other times when I get some really good inspiration to write something BUT it's too late for me to turn on the computer lest i get a severe headache the next morning.

I like to think that my life is like a house. Or maybe a building if you prefer. If we abandon a building for a long time, wild shrubs tend to grow all over the place. Vines and creepers and all sorts of wild plants grow. Some creepy creatures and small wild animals make that place their refuge. And then one day you decide to go back to that building to look for something you have left there for many years. More like a treasure buried in the middle of the building. You try to cut through the growth but it never seems to end. Too many years of not clearing has left it too thick to pass through with just a normal sickle in hand. The only way to get in is by calling the construction company to bring in their wrecking ball because if you were to cut through anyway, the house may collapse on you. You are sad because that structure had held you for many years before you left it abandoned. But to get that treasure back, you had to do it. Also, you could start anew after that. Then, when the building is finally brought down, you are able to access the treasure. AND you are able to start a fresh. Reaffirming the foundation. Giving the structure stronger beams for better support of the house. But it takes a long time. Months or even a year or two. And that was only the exterior. The interior is just another story altogether.

SO, the point of the illustration? Well, for many months my life in Christ was laid stagnant. My walk with Him seemed dead. No more nice genuine long walks, talking and listening to Him. Till I completely lost it. I felt I was going crazy. To tell you the truth, I nearly went into depression. The communion I once had with Him was like the treasure stuck in the middle of the house. Assignments and other things were like those wild plants and shrubs, growing so thick that my strength alone could not conquer. Till I couldn't take it anymore, I let God's construction company takeover. Tore my life apart. Brought my world crashing down. And now, it's being built back again. Slowly, but surely, it's reconstruction in progress. ;)

Unchanging love

I was doing my work and randomly listening to songs on YouTube and I happened to click on this song.
 


The lyrics are as follows (obtained from here):

You have my heart
And I am Yours forever
You are my strength
God of grace and power

And everything You hold in Your hand
Still You make time for me
I can't understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love

And You never change God You remain
The Holy One
My unfailing love
Unfailing love

You are my rock
The one I hold on to
You are my song
And I sing for You

And everything You hold in Your hand
Still You make time for me
I can't understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love

And You never change God You remain
The Holy One
My Unfailing love
Unfailing love

And everything You hold in Your hand
Still you make time for me
I can't understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love

And You never change God You remain
The Holy One
My Unfailing love
Unfailing love

I will praise You
Praise you God of earth and sky
How beautiful is your unfailing love
Unfailing love

And You never change God You remain
The Holy One
My Unfailing love

Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love

 The coloured words really struck me. God has everything to care a bout in this world. He has to take care of every single one of His creation, and yet, He will always have time to listen to us when we call out to Him. In the Bible, we see numerous times that when God's people call out to Him, He will always answer them. He always has the time for us no matter what.

But not so with us. We seem to give all sort of excuses when it is time to meet with God. Why do we not have time for our King of Kings? More often than not, we allow the things of our day crowd our schedule until we have no time for God. Our priorities become all mixed up. We leave the free time in our lives for God. We tend to let our social networking time become our priority in our lives and leave God the bits of free time left in our daily lives. Then we complain that we have not enough time for God. And then we complain that we are moving further and further away from God. Well, God has always been there. It is us who haven't.

I think it is time we start rescheduling our lives and rearrange our priorities. God doesn't have any excuses for us. So why do we have excuses for God? He always show us unfailing love. Where's ours for Him?

Your Grace is Enough

⁹But he said to me. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-12 (TNIV)

                Our life is never without hardships. But how often do we see the good in our hardships? We are reminded by Paul’s words in the above verses quoted that our weaknesses are there so that God’s power may be made perfect in us. Most of the time, we forget that God does everything for a reason, including allowing us to fail at times. We may not be getting the results we desire, or we may have failed to reach the par in doing something, and we always blame ourselves for not doing any better. That is definitely what Satan wants to do. He wants to destroy us by letting us think that we are useless and cannot become any better.

                However, God has other plans. He knows that if He keeps letting us have our way, winning all the time, we would soon become stuck-up and forget about Him. But even in these failing times, most of us tend to forget to find God in the picture. He allows us to fail so that His power may be seen as fully awesome and sovereign in all His glory. He allows us to fail so that we and others may see the wonders of His awesome power. All the more we should be rejoicing in our affliction, as it is through our failures that God’s power is truly seen as magnificent. We should, like Paul; glory in our sufferings, that Christ may be seen in us and through us.

                For this very reason, if you know me, I do not dwell too much and too long on my sufferings as I know that Christ is in me, working his sovereign power through me that I may be a light to the world. I, too, want to be like Paul, being able to glory in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ. More so, in these End Times, the persecution is rising. May God’s awesome power been made perfect in these situations that through these, many will come to know Him.

                The next time you face any of your weaknesses, or a failure in life, remember to find God in the picture and try and look at it from God’s point of view, why He would allow such a thing to happen. Though most of the time we may not understand God’s plans for us, it would be wise to put our trust in Him completely to lead us in the path that we are to take. God bless you. =)

Promises

What do promises mean to you? I wrote a short story on what promises means to me.

                “I promise that no matter where we are, what we will be, whatever we do, we will always remain the best of friends.” Sound familiar? I remember Claire saying it with her pinkie hooked entwined with mine. Promises. That’s what it is. The last day of elementary school, before summer break. In fall, we would be going to two different middle schools. She lived on the west side of town and I lived on the east side of town. As I flipped through the yearbook on my bed, I remember her words only vaguely. We were both now in high school. I have tried to reach her. Even in Facebook, I could not find her. Had she forgotten about me? What happened to her promise?

                Still sitting on my bed, I closed the yearbook and put it back onto my bookshelf. I leaned up against my bed frame with a pillow cushioning my back. I had a school assignment to hand in the next day. Mr Randy had given us a total of thirty one-word topics. He wrote the topics on small pieces of paper, folded them up and put them into the box. He went round the class and my classmates picked up the papers one by one. When it came to my turn, I just put my hand in and quickly drew a piece, hoping it would be a nice topic. With much anticipation, I slowly opened my paper as Mr Randy walked on. In his slanted writing was the word “PROMISES”. Instantly, I was reminded of Claire. Was it meant to be that way? Why would I suddenly think of her?

                Snapping back to the present, I started thinking, “Okay, maybe it’s not totally her fault that she broke her promise. I have not bothered to call her all these years either.” Many thoughts ran past me.  I remember the many times when I had turned her invitations down. That got me thinking. What are promises, really? Are they just words muttered out for fun? Maybe we were just too young then to think about what we were saying. Are they consoling words that parents tell their children? Or are they the great things told by advertisements which probably would not be fulfilled?

                I started to dig deeper. When my grandfather died while I was 3, my dad told me, “Everything is going to be fine. I promise.” When my dad came home the other day and told us that his boss had fired him, he said the same exact words. Well, things turned out to fine. So, you can say that they really were good promises. Parents always promise their children good stuff when they do well in something. Like the other time when I felt like not practicing my piano anymore, my mum told me that she would get me the second book of the series “The Chronicles of Narnia” if I passed with a merit. I had wanted that so much, that I made sure I passed with a distinction, just to be sure. In the end, I got a distinction and I got the book. On top of that, I got a dinner treat.

                I wrote all about parents promises on my paper. By now, I was sitting at my desk. I thought on to the pledge that we recited every morning during the school assembly. Could it be counted as a promise? Everyone says it. Everyone has to say it. It’s everyone’s pledge of allegiance and loyalty to the country. But will everyone fulfil it? In modern times like this, I do not think that people will actually stop and think about what those words really mean. After all, everyone just wants to think about chasing their dreams. Their endless dreams of this and that. To conclude on this matter, I wrote that the pledge said every morning was just a promise to some. Because I believe that promises are words that you really mean and are ready to keep it. But had I not broken mine already?

                I sighed heavily as my thoughts reverted back to Claire. It makes me annoyed when I do not keep my promises. It is as if I am like those people doing the advertising job for different companies of different product. Their sales speeches are always full of words but only a few put it into action. It is just like that time when my parents wanted to buy a new laptop for me. It was promised that I would be getting a glitch-free experience of amazing computer programs. But, hey, guess what? My computer got hanged a week later. So much for the glitch-free usage. The only time they ever keep to their promises is when it would cost them an arm and a leg to not keep it. And how often will that really happen? Even once in a blue moon would be too often. So, I cut that point out as I continued on with my ideas for my assignment.

                Then, I finally thought of promises which will forever be kept. God. I Love it. When God gives you a promise, He really keeps it. I like it when He promises us good stuff if we are faithful to Him. We just must make sure that we try our best not to hinder from the right path and we would have kept our part of the promise, ready for God to fulfil His part. Even if we do stray sometimes, God will be more than ready to forgive those who ask Him for forgiveness. Isn’t God awesome? He keeps His promises 100%! I went back and plopped down on my bed as I continued thinking over that wonderful thought. I was so happy that I had finished my assignment.

                As a conclusion on that matter, I wrote that promises are something which you tell someone you are going to do and really do it. Promises are meant to be kept and not be broken. All the broken promises should not even be called promises. They should just be called lies. At the thought of that, my thought went back to Claire again. I had broken my promise and I was a liar. Just then, my cell phone beeped. A voicemail message had just come in. I had been so indulged in my work until I did not even hear my cell phone ring earlier. I pressed the soft key with the “Open” option. A familiar voice said, “Hi, if this is Nita, please call me back with this number. Thanks.” It was the same voice I heard on the last day of elementary school. The very same, only more matured. I smiled to myself as my finger pushed the “Call Back” option button. She has kept her promise. With the call tone ringing, I thought to myself that it was time I kept mine as well.

New blog! New purpose!

Okay. So, I've started to want to blog again after many years. I've come up with a new blog because I don't think my old one is that relevant to me anymore. Anyway, whatever that is going to be written in this blog is mainly my thoughts, whether at the surface of deep inside.  It's not meant to intentionally harm anyone in any way. However, it they are to offend you in anyway, I really do apologize for that. Happy reading! :)